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Goodbyes....

The school year has ended. It was a long one, filled with thirteen snow days and an extended year that seemed to last forever. My chosen career is one that I love...I can't imagine doing anything else. When a year comes to an end, it's a time to say goodbyes.

Goodbyes can be healthy, a way to move forward, a way to close one door and open another. Fresh beginnings can be a beautiful thing. A flower pushing through the soft dirt, stretching in the sun. Its face turning toward the sun warming itself.

Goodbyes can also be difficult. A closing of a door, a dark alley that is closed off with no where to go. An ending of sorts but these endings can allow for new beginnings to arise. It's cyclic, a never ending circle, one leading to the other.

Watching my students move forward, beginning their new lives was a gift, a glorious moment of success that will last for years to come. Ending their lives as high school students and moving toward new and better things.

When does one know, in life, that it is time to say goodbye? When has the road clearly ended and it is time to find a new path, one where flowers grow and peaceful passage can be found? When the road has become stony and impassable and thorny brush covering the path? It may be time to turn away from your current road and find a new path. Sometime the path cannot be cleared and the time has come to find a new way.

Realizing this and choosing to move along is never easy, goodbyes are hard. A change of way, a change of venue and surroundings means building new bridges in ones life. Building bridges to places can lead you into the sun, a glorious place where you are warm and content.

Goodbyes...an ending, closure in an area of life can be a painful step in ones life. On the other hand, goodbyes are also a passage into the future, a door opening to allow for growth in the sun.

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